13. Where are we now?

Where are we with our eco friendly build project? Let’s see … Phase 1: Owning a plot of land So, we signed the preliminary contract (contrato de arras) to buy the land on the 18th

Where are we with our eco friendly build project? Let’s see …

Phase 1: Owning a plot of land

So, we signed the preliminary contract (contrato de arras) to buy the land on the 18th of December 2018. Immediately we went to the bank and they set things in motion. However as it was December and it was the “holiday period” … it is taking a little bit longer to pass the first two steps. The first step was for the bank to organize to send someone to ensure their mortgage was backed by enough value. We received the value of our plot on the 21st of January. We signed the request for the mortgage and … had to do it again the day after. Our friendly bank director made one of those mistakes that affected us. Our monthly mortgage increased 49% due to his lack of professionalism. However to keep the project moving we are biting the bullet. I’ll find a solution for our future needs of this bank.

The “contrato de arras” is not always required. However we are buying from a company and it’s quite common for them. We paid the regular 10% of the total amount to the current owner (ex.VAT).

The next step is that the “gestoría” solves all the items of the rather large list of the “Nota Simple”. The nota simple is the official list of items that are registered as “still open” against the house or land. For example on our plot, there is a mortgage and some unpaid taxes. Before we sign at the notary all these items need to be resolved, i.e. paid by the owner. We are currently “patiently” waiting for the professionals to do their tricks.

Phase 2: Building license in hand

Our planning is starting to slide a bit on the first objective but I’m not worried yet. As over the past months we have been fine-tuning our requirements. Also we have been communicating clearly our wishes to our architects. I hope we can improve our timeline here.

On the financial side we have been working hard to close the gaps and we are getting closer to solve it all. There is only one thing outstanding and that is to actually win the lottery 😉

Phase 3: Certificate of Occupancy in hand

No work can be done as yet.

Phase 4: Personalisation of our home

Again, here our investigations bring us closer and closer to knowing exactly what we want. Although we also have more time to change our minds of course. So perhaps we need to tie things down. There are a few items that we could do now already. The visitors area for example with a Tiny House, an outdoor kitchen/dining/chill area, as well as a swimming pool. Perhaps we can move it up and do some of these items during the first phase.

So all in all – where are we with our eco friendly build? Well in our heads we are a lot further than we actually are. We don’t have anything to show yet. No ownership of the land, no building … just beautiful ideas … well .. plus the energy and eagerness to keep it all going of course 🙂